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Work Samples

Planetary Lines-Earth #4

Encaustic ,Photograph,Pastel, Landscape, Sunset
Encaustic, Pastel, and Photograph on mounted board. View of sunset over ocean with a strip of land in the distance.

Planetary Lines-Earth # 14

Encaustic, Pastel, Photograph, Landscape, Sunset
Encaustic, and Photograph on mounted board. View of sunset over the ocean.

Winter Willow

Photograph, Portrait, Transgender
Winter portrait of Belle at the beginning of her transition journey.

Beguile

Photograph, Portrait, Transgender
Portrait of Belle in her dining room during her transition.

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About Cathy

Baltimore County

Cathy Leaycraft's picture
            Cathy Leaycraft was born in New York City. Her mother frequently took her to Galleries and Art Museums as she was growing up and her paternal grandmother was a painter with a home and studio in Woodstock, NY.             Ms. Leaycraft has been photographing for over 35 years. In 1976 she moved to the Baltimore area, where she resides today. She started her study of photography at the University of Delaware and continued at... more

Encaustic and Photography

          About five years ago I began experimenting with the hot wax medium Encaustic. Encaustic gives my photographs the texture and depth I have long admired in paintings. In addition, I can manipulate the surface with traditional and non-traditional objects, like brushes, hammers, dental tools etc. I can also scrape out areas revealing more of the photograph underneath.
 
The process:
            A mixture of beeswax and damar resin is heated to about 200 degrees and applied to a surface. In my case, the surface is one of my photographs printed on watercolor paper and mounted on board. After each layer of wax cools, it is “fixed” by reheating the wax with a heat gun. Additional layers are added in a similar fashion. I use three or four layers before making textural patterns in the wax surface, carving out elements, or adding pastel pigments. 

Transforming Identity: Sex Change at Sixty-Six

      A voice from the transgender community is rare. The fear of persecution keeps most transgender people from sharing their experience.  I have been fortunate,  for five years, I had the opportunity to photographically document a friend as she explored her new identity as a woman. I have self published my documentation in a book titled: Transforming  Identity: Sex Change at Sixty-Six. The book, also, includes an interview in which she talks about her experience. What makes this story unique is the fact that Bob became Arabella Sofia Bianco (Belle) at age sixty-six. 
 

  • Belle Book Cover

    Photography, Portrait, Transgender
    Cover of my book titled Transforming Identity : Sex Change at Sixty-Six.
  • Fishnets

    Photography, Portrait, Fishnet Stockings, Legs, Hands
    Belle's experiment with fishnet stockings.
  • Winter Willow

    Portrait, Photography, Transgender
    Winter portrait of Belle at the beginning of her Transgender Journey.
  • Emerging Fall

    Portrait, Photography, Fall, Transgender
    Portrait of Belle in the fall.
  • Summer Parasol

    Portrait, Photograph, Summer, Parasol, Transgender
    Summer portrait of Belle with pink parasol.
  • Lipstick

    Portrait, Photography,Mirror, Lipstick
    Belle learning to use makeup.
  • Feather Eyes

    Portrait, Photography, Mask, Feathers,
    Belle entertaining me with a feather mask.
  • Beguile

    Photograph, Portrait, Transgender
    Belle in her dining room wearing blond wig.

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